Method of and apparatus for packaging strand material



6, 1957 M. J, DEMPSEYETAL 2,801,813

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR PACKAGING STRAND MATERIAL Filed Aug. 6., 1954 2 Sheets-Shet 1 mvemozs MlCHAEL q. DEMPSEY AND WILLlAM. E AYLARD Jam 4M ATTOEQEYS 1957 M. J. DEMPSEY vrz-r AL 2,801,813

METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR PACKAGING STRAND MATERIAL Filed Aug. 6, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS MICHAEL J DEMPSEY AND WILUAM EAYLARD ATTORNEYS METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR PACKAGING STRAND MATERIAL h iichael J. Dempsey, Waterbury, and William F. Aylard, Cheshire, Conn, assignors to Chase Brass & Copper Co. Incorporated, Waterbury, Conm, a corporation Application August 6, 1954, Serial No. 448,350 8 Claims. (Cl. 242-83) This invention relates to a method of, and apparatus for, packaging comparatively stiff strand material, such as Wire or rope, for shipment in so-called loose-coiled I form.

Wire, rope and similar strand material is conventionally prepared for shipment in either of two general ways.

In one, the strand material is wound upon spools, reels orlike supports in which case the strands are placed under -small tension so as to cause them to remain in relatively fixed position on the support. The alternative method is the so-called loose-coiling method inwhich the strand material is formed into loops or coils of a substantially uniform diameter, but without any permanent support, until a bundle of desired size is builtup. Such bundles are then generally tied to prevent them from falling apart and becoming tangled when the strand material is subsequently handled, but in many instances it is desired to package the material in loosely coiled condition within adrum or cylindrical container without binding or tying the coils in any manner. Such packaging aifords certain advantages in shipping as well as facilitating the subsequent pay-01f of the strands when the material is used. Apparatus suitable for loosely coiling strand material, such as wire for example, ina cylindrical container of this type has been known and used for some time. Patent No. 1,995,498 to Dempsey and Reher discloses one means which has been used extensively on a commercial scale for accomplishing this. i

The present invention relates to an improvement on that apparatus and on the method of packaging the strand material there disclosed, whereby it now becomes possible to increase to a wholly unexpected degree the amount of strand material which may be packaged in a container of given size.

As in the past, the present invention employs an annular drum, such as that shown in the aforesaid patent to Dempsey and Reher, as a shipping container for the strand material. In the present case, means is provided fer rotating the drum to coil the strands in the annular space between the inner and outer Walls as the strand material is advanced from the final drawing operation in a wire drawing machine. Moreover, means is also provided for jarring the container or drum in the course of filling it. Such jarring tends to produce a cavity or valley in the upper surface of the annular layer of coiled strands. By adjusting the relative speed of rotation of the container with respect to the rate of feed of thestrand material thereto, additional coils are caused to fill up the concavity thus formed and a further substantially uniform layer is then built up on top thereof, and the process repeated until the container is filled.

it has of course long been known in the packaging of pulverulent material to shake or vibrate the container into which such material its poured in order to cause it to settle and pack, and thus increase the weight that can be shipped in a container of given size. In the case of material consisting of discrete particles,or at least of relatively small independent parts, it is easy to see how 2,801,813 Patented Aug. ,6, 1957 ice jarring or vibrating them can cause ,a substantial re arrangement of their relative positions. One would certainly not he led to expectfrom this, however, that any significant changein apparent volume could -be produced on jarring continuous length material, especially where .it

is of substantial stiffness, once it has beencoiled in .a suitable container. It does occur, however, but as mentioned above, thecoils appear to shift with such jarring soas to produce a valley ordepression at the center ,of the annular layer, intermediate the innenand outer radii.

Moreover, it is not enough merely to vibrate the coiled strands during the filling operation, as they will tend to tangle and snarl if more coils are merely added indiscriminately. It is important that, when the depression is formed, the relative speed of rotation of the container be adjusted with respect to the linear rateof feed of the wire from the wire drawing machine such that subsequent coilsare laid on substantially the mean diameter of the aforesaid depression so as to fill it first, before adding coils uniformly across the upper surface of the annular bundle. If this is done, tangling is avoided. By repeating the process until the barrel is filled, it is possible to get more than twice the amount of strand "material into a container than can be done simply by coiling it unforrnly and without the jarring and relative coiling speed readjustment just described. Such an increase naturally alfords very substantial savings in shipping bulk, in addition to the convenience of eliminating the necessity of tying the loose coils in bundles and avoiding tangling. i

A more detailed description of the invention is given hereinafter in connection with the application to wire coiling operations, which is typical of the uses to which the present invention may be put.

In the accompanying drawings, there is shown for purposes of illustration, one form of apparatus which is being used commercially with surprising success. In the drawings:

Fig. l is a perspective view in side elevation of a wire drawing machine incorporating a coiling device embodying the present invention, the wire drawingmachine being shown in block diagram only as it may be of any well known commercial type;

Fig. 2 is an enlargedcross-sectional view in side elevation, taken along line 22 of Fig. 1, showing details of the means for rotating and vertically reciprocating the shipping container during the filling thereof; and

Figs. 3 to 5 are cross-sectional views of a container into which wire has been coiled, the several views illustrating successive stages of the filling operation.

Referring to the drawings, partly finished wire is fed into the rear of a conventional wire drawing machine 10, and emerges through a final sizing die 11 at the front of the machine. The wire W then passes between a capstan 1 2 and a cooperating pressure roll 13 and is wrapped several times around the capstan in order that the latter may have a sufficient purchase on the wire to draw it through die 11. On the final pass, wire W is led from the capstan through a conventional cast-setter 14 and back again to the capstan and, on emerging from the bite formed by the capstan and the pressure roll 13, passes immediately into an eductor tube 15 which leads it into the open top of an annular shipping barrel 16. The latter is carried on a bed or table, indicated generally at 17, which is rotated by suitable driving means so as to cause the Wire to be coiled within barrel 16 as it is advanced by the capstan 1-2. As shown in Fig. 1, pressure roll 13 is an idler roll which is mounted on a shaft that may be bodily moved toward and away from the capstan 12 but is normally spring biased so as to cause the roll 13 to press tightly against the capstan periphery. For the smaller gauges of wire, this arrangement is quite adequate to pro v-ide proper feeding of the wire through the eductor tube to the barrel 16. However, as the wire size is increased, and especially as the rate of feed is speeded up, it has been found desirable to positively drive the idler roll 13 in order to prevent slipping of thefwire on the capstan, which is apparently caused by the increase in resistance of the wire to being pushed through the eductor tube 15.

The driving means for the barrel table comprises, in the present instance, spur and pinion gears 18, 19, respectively, the latter being secured to a vertically disposed shaft 20 which also carries a bevel gear 21. A second bevel gear 22 meshes with the aforesaid gear 21 for driving engagement therewith, gear 22 being secured on a shaft 23 which is supported in a bearing assembly 24. Shaft 23 is connected to a variable speed drive unit 25 by means of double belt and pulley connections, including pulley-s 26 secured to shaft 23, belts 27 and pulleys 28 secured to output shaft 29 of the variable speed drive unit 25. The input shaft 30 of the unit 25 carries double pulleys 31 which are connected by belts 32 to double pulleys 33 made fast on the capstan drive shaft 34 of the wire drawing machine 10. A motor, not shown, drives shaft 35, and power is transmitted through a pulley 37 on shaft 35 and a belt 38 to a pulley 39 secured to a shaft 36. Internal gearing in the machine transmits power to a countershaft 40 which is connected in turn to the capstan drive shaft 34 through the double belt and pulley connections including pulleys 41, belts 42 and pulleys 43. Shaft 34 is connected internally of the machine to the capstan 12 to drive the latter.

In the example illustrated in the drawings, the variable drive unit 25 is shown, for purposes of simplification, as being of the manually operated type, a hand wheel 44 being provided thereon for adjusting the speed of the output shaft 29 with respect to the speed of the input shaft 30.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that power is transmitted from motor shaft 35 through the various drive connections just described to cause pinion 19 to drive spur gear 18 and thus cause table 17, which is secured to spur gear 18, to rotate. It will also bc'noted that since the power for driving table 17 is taken off of the capstan drive shaft 34, the speed of barrel rotation will always be proportional to the speed of capstan 12. By means of the variable speed drive unit 25 it is possible to vary the speed of rotation of barrel 16 with respect to the rate of feed of wire W which remains constant so long as the speed of input shaft 35 is fixed; Therefore, if the variable speed drive unit 25 is adjusted to give a pcripheral speed, at the mean diameter of the annular space 45 defined by the outer and inner walls 46, 47, respectively, of the barrel 16, which is equal to the linear rate of speed of wire W as it emerges from the eductor tube 15, the wire will assume a coiled condition in the container on a diameter closely approximating the aforesaid mean diameter. If however the speed of rotation of barrel 16 is increased slightly, since the linear rate of speed of the wire remains constant, the wire will tend to coil on a smaller diameter, thus bringing it closer to the inner wall 47 of the barrel 16. On the other hand, if the speed of rotation of the barrel is decreased slightly by 'means of the variable drive, then the wire will tend to coil on a slightly larger diameter approaching the outer wall 46 of the barrel. Thus by changing the speed of output shaft 29 of variable speed drive unit 25 it is possible to cause the wire W to coil in container 16 substantially uniformly over the cross-sectional area of the annulus 45. Figure3 illustrates the condition of wire coiled in this manner, it being noted the wire is distributed substantially uniformly across the annular space 45, and the upper surface of the layer thus produced is relatively level. a Down to this point, the ceiling operations described are substantially typical of conventional prior practice, except that in most cases the variable speed drive unit is dispensed with and the gearing ratio fixed to effect coiling on the mean diameter of the annular space 45, this being considered heretofore an acceptable compromise.

As mentioned earlier herein, the wire coiling means of the present invention differs radically, however, from previous types in that it incorporates provision for jarring or jolting the barrel 16 in the course of filling it with wire. Details of one means for effecting this jolting action are shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings. As there shown, table 17, upon which the barrel 16 rests, is carried on the upper end of a substantially vertically disposed spindle 48 journaled in a bearing 49, the latter being carried in a supporting housing 50. This housing in turn is secured at its upper end within an aperture provided in the top of a supporting frame 51, while the lower end of housing 50 is received in and supported by a second housing 52 likewise secured to frame 51.

Spindle 48 is keyed to the hub 53 of table 17, and spur gear 18 surrounds hub 53 and is secured to the table by suitable bolts 54 passing vertically through the gear into engagement with the table 17. Shaft 20, which carries pinion 1 9 at its upper end and bevel gear 21 substantially intermediate its length, is journaled for rotation about an axis parallel to that of the spindle so as to permit relative axial movement between the two while maintaining meshing engagement between the pinion and the spur gear. Bearings 55 carry shaft 20 and are themselves carried by supporting frame 51. Bearing assembly 24 is likewise carried on frame 51 to dispose the shaft 23 horizontally and to maintain meshing engagement between bevel gears 22 and 21.

Jolting of barrel 16 is effected by relatively sudden vertical reciprocation of table 17 and spindle 48, bearing 49 being adapted to permit such reciprocation of the spindle. It will also be noticed that spur gear 18 is of substantially greater width than pinion gear 19 so that such vertical reciprocation within predetermined limits may take place without disengagement of the gears. In the present instance, vertical reciprocation of the table and spindle is effected by an air cylinder, indicated generally at 56, carried in a housing 52. Cylinder 56 has a piston 57 to which is connected a piston rod 58, the latter being carried in a stufling box 59 at the upper end of the cylinder assembly 56. Air is alternately admitted to one side of piston 57 and exhausted from the other side thereof through the air supply pipes 60, 61, to cause vertical reciprocation of the piston in the cylinder. An air supply control valve, not shown, is provided for admitting the air first to one side of piston 57 and then to the other, while concurrently opening the opposite supply line to atmosphere to permit the cylinder to exhaust rapidly and thus efiect relatively rapid reciprocation.

A socket 62 is bored substantially axially in the upper end of piston rod 58, within which socket the lower end of spindle 48 is seated. A thrust bearing 63 is seated in the bottom of the socket and the lower end of the spindle 48 rests thereon in order to permit the spindle to continue to rotate freely when axial thrust is imparted to it by piston rod 58. Thrust washers 70 are also provided at the upper end of bearing housing 50 to absorb some of the shock as the table 17 drops back after piston 57 has been raised and returned again to its low position.

Assuming that the table and spindle 17 and 48, respectively, are initially in the position shown in Fig. 2, and a layer of wire W has been coiled into the barrel 16 so that it is substantially uniformly distributed across the annular space 45 of the container (see Fig. 3), air is admitted to the underside of piston 57 through supply line 61 causing the piston to be lifted vertically and rather suddenly. This causes the spindle 48 to be raised and carries with it, of course, table 17 and barrel 16. In order to prevent the barrel from jumping off the table, positioning flanges 64 are welded or otherwise secured to the upper surface of table 17. These center the barrel on the table and are provided with hold-down screws 65 which pass through flanges 64 to engage the lower rim 66 of barrel 16 so as to clamp it securely to the table. The .air control valve is then operated again to introduce air into the supply pipe 60 andconcurrently to open the supply pipe61 in order to permit exhausting of the underside of the piston,

whereby the piston is suddenly "lowered. The barrel,

table and spindle then drop-backsuddenly to the initial position under the influence of their own weight. The process is repeated several times so as to give the container a vigorous jarring action and it will be found that the layer of wire coils in the container will assume the condition shown in Fig. 4 in which the upper surface of the layer becomes convex and the height of the original layer is substantially reduced.

If additional wire is then fed into the container so as to effect uniform distribution of the coils across the annular space 45, snarls and tangles in the wire coils are almost sure to result. In order to prevent this, the speed of rotation of the barrel is readjusted by means of the variable speed drive unit 25 so that coils of wire are first laid into the valley formed in the upper surface of the preceding layer by the aforesaid jolting action. After this valley has been filled, readjustment of the barrel rotational speed is again elfected to provide substantially uniform distribution of further coils until an additional increment of wire coils is built up and the condition of the wire in the barrel is substantially that shown in Fig. 5 of the drawings. Further jolting of the barrel is then effected to cause rearrangement of wire coils of the new increment to obtain the characteristic concavity in the upper surface of this new layer, after which the concavity is again filled in and the process described hereinabove repeated until the container is full. A cover may then be applied to the container and hold-down screws 65 backed off to permit the container to be hoisted off the table and sent to the warehouse for shipment.

The foregoing illustrative example incorporates manually operated means for adjusting the speed of barrel rotation and for effecting the vertical reciprocation of the barrel. This has been done for purposes of simplifying the description of the invention. It is obvious however that either, and preferably both, of the foregoing operations may be accomplished by automatic means in timed relation with each other to effect the above described method of packaging the strand material. It will also be obvious that the specific means for accomplishing the foregoing operations which have been described hereinabove may be varied extensively by the substitution of a wide variety of possible equivalent constructions, and it is intended to include all such equivalents as properly fall within the scope of the appended claims.

The apparatus and method described hereinabove are currently in commercial use and have proved eminently successful in the packaging of wire. For example, a typical shipping container of the annular type which has been used commercially heretofore, will hold approximately 150 pounds of copper wire of 0.070 inch diameter when coiled into the container by the conventional method employed prior to this invention. In comparison with this, if the same size wire is packaged in accordance with the method described in this invention, it is readily possible to get more than 400 pounds into the same container, or more than two and one-half times as much. Moreover, it has also been found that when the wire is packaged in accordance with this invention, there is apparently less tangling and snarling of the wire in paying out from the container during subsequent use than where the conventional method of simply coiling the wire into the container is used.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for coiling strand material loosely in an annular shipping container, which comprises in combination with strand feeding means, coiling means comprising a container support adapted to hold an annular container and to rotate it about its longitudinal axis, driving means for rotating said support at a speed correlated to the feed of thestrand material .to effect the coiling thereof in said J container, and means, for imparting to said container support as said container is being filled,.and while it is being rotated by said driving. means, relatively sudden jolting movement to compact the loosely coiled strand material in. said container.

2., Apparatus for coiling strand materialwloosely in an annular shipping container, which comprises in combination with strand feeding means, coiling means comprising a vertically disposed spindle adapted to support an annular container within which the strand material is to be coiled, said container being supported on said spindle for rotation about its longitudinal axis, driving means for rotating said spindle at a speed correlated to the feed of the strand material so as to eifect the coiling thereof in said annular container, and means for reciprocating said spindle suddenly along its axis to impart jolting action to a container carried thereby while it. is being rotated by said driving means.

3. Apparatus for coiling wire loosely in an annular shipping container, which comprises in combination, wire feeding means for advancing the wire to be coiled at a predetermined rate, coiling means for receiving said wire as it is advanced, said coiling means comprising a spindle journaled for rotation about a substantially vertical axis, support means carried by said spindle for engaging and retaining temporarily an annular container in which wire is to be coiled, a source of driving power for said wire feeding means, variable speed drive means connected between said source of driving power and said spindle for driving the latter at different speeds with respect to the rate of feed of wire by said wire feeding means so as to effect a distribution of the Wire coils within said annular container, and means for reciprocating said spindle axially to impart a relatively sudden jolt to said container while the latter is being rotated by said driving means.

4. Apparatus as defined in claim 3, wherein said means for imparting axial reciprocation to said spindle comprises a fluid operated piston, and a cylinder within which that piston is disposed, said piston being connected to said spindle, and means for controlling the admission and release of fluid to and from said cylinder, respectively, to effect the sudden reciprocation of said spindle.

5. Apparatus as defined in claim 4, wherein said spindle is provided with aspur gear, a driving pinion in meshing engagement therewith, said pinion being of substantially less width than said spur gear whereby said spindle may be reciprocated axially without disengaging said spur gear from said driving pinion, said pinion being driven by said variable speed drive means.

6. The method of packaging strand material for shipment which comprises feeding said material to an annular container while the latter is being rotated about a substantially vertical axis at a speed correlated to the rate of feed of said strand material, and causing to be built up a substantially uniform layer of coils of said material in said container; jarring said container during the filling thereof whereby said coils are repositioned within said container and the upper surface of said layer tends to become concave in a radial plane; feeding additional strand material first into the cavity thus formed and then unifonnly within the container to build up an additional layer of coils, and repeating the process until the container is filled.

7. The method of packaging strand material for shipment as defined in claim 6, wherein said container is jarred by relatively sudden axial reciprocation to effect the repositioning of the coils of said material therein.

8. The method of packaging wire for shipment which comprises feeding the wire to an annular container while the latter is being rotated about a substantially vertical axis, the linear rate of feed of the wire and. the rotational speed of the container being relatively adjustable to produce a substantially uniform layer of wire coils in said container; jolting said container by relatively sudden axial reciprocation thereof to reposition the coils in said layer and cause its upper surface to become concave in a radial plane; readjusting the relative speeds of the wire feed and container rotation to cause the on-coming wire first to fill up the concavity thus formed and then to distribute it substantially uniformly to build up an additional layer, and repeating the foregoing operations until the container is filled.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Dempsey et a1. Mar. 26, 1935 

